Machine for making plaster-board.



DE LANCEY A. CAMERON.

MACHINE PoR MAKING PLASTBR BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1911. i

Patented June 11, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOURAPM co..

rTnn sTATEs PATENT onnrcn. l.

DE LANCEY A. CAMERON, OF IGENESIEO, YORK, ASSIGNOR [U DELAG BLASTER AGO.,

OF MUMFORD, NEW YORK, A CORBORATION 0F NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR yMAKING TPLASTER-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1.912,.

.Application .1edMay`20, 1911. Serial N o. 628,569.

To a'ZZ whom it mag/concern:

Be it known that I, DE LANGEY A. ICAM- nRoN, a citizen o-f the United States, and resident of Geneseo, in the county of Livingston and State of New York, have vinvented i certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Plaster- Board, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of plaster-board such as used in buildingconstruction as a substitute for lathing and plaster, and which usually comprises a body. -of plastic and fibrous materal, together with description of thev illustrated embodiment of the invention., s

Inthe accompanyingdrawings: Figure 1 is a plan-view of a machine embodying the present invention, shown in section on the line ily-11 in Fig. 2; Fig. 2 `is a longitudinal section of the machine shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a detail view, on a larger scale, in vertical section on, the line 3-'3 in'Fig. A1. 1n fthe illustrated embodiment of the 1invention the plaster-'board is molded "in successive pieces or boards Vupon af wide, vflat bed which constitutes the bottom of the molds. This lbed fis 'in the form of an fendless fbelt t running over pulleys `or drums 5 and journaled at theends of the machine. The bed is made of suitable iieXible material which ymust also be impervious lto the moisture of the plastic composition, and I have found that rubber makes the best material for :the surface ofthe bed, as it is impervious and flexible and does not adhere to `the plaster.

The drums 5 and 6 are journaled in Aa kframe 7, which is broken away in the drawings to indicate that it may be of vindefinite molds.

Ythe machine.

The body of the bed may be of ktextile fabric such as canvas.

length. Between these drums the upper and lower portions of the bed are stretched Vin horizontal position. The bed is 'divided transversely by fa succession of uniformly--n spaced cross-bars 8 which are riveted, ,or

otherwise permanently secured, to the vmaterial of the bed. To suppo-rtfthe horizontal `portions .of Athe bed each "bar 8 is provided at the ends with rollers 9, which :travel along upper and lower horizontal tracks 10 4and -11 respectively. The cross-bars, inaddition `to stiffening and supporting `the bed,

yconstitute also the end-walls of ythe molds Iby which the successive boards are formed,

the bed constituting the bottom of these* The sides ofthe molds are formed by side-bars 12. These bars are of the same height as lthe cross-bars 8, vbut they .are reklmovable-from the bed. As shownin Fig. 3, the bed is provided near its :edges with studs 13, and the bars 12 are provided with corresponding tapered openings adapted to engage the studs so as to properly locate and fix Ithe sidelbars upon the bed. As ythe bed progresses from Vleft `to :right at its upper portion, the bars are placed -in position :thereon by `the loperator of the machine so as to complete the vsuccessive molds, which vthen pass onto the point where the plastic kmaterial is discharged into the molds.

As the several operations by which each board 'is -formed require that the movement 'of the machine 'be interrupted periodically, the machine iSv-provided with means for actuating the-'belt intermittently through a 'space equal to -the distance betweeen two of the cross-bars. For this `ypurpose the ydrum 5 is connected with a gear 16 which meshes with a pinion 1'7, andthe diameters of the pinion and the ygear are suchthat one rotation yof the `pinion moves the ybed the required distance. ',To actuate the pinion .it is connected with a one-rotation clutch 18 of Vany well-known orsuitable form, which [is controlled vby a. treadle `19 atthe front. of a0@ The clutch is rotated constantly by connection with any suitable source of power, and when the treadle is momentarily depressed the clutch 'is released and actuates the pinion through one rotation.

By the successivegmovements of the bed just described each mold is brought fin turn to the `:point where the plastic material 1s klos discharged into it. At 'this point the mold 110 lies directly beneath a guard 20 which surrounds the mold to prevent the escape of material therefrom. Above the mold at this point is a hopper 21 containing the plastic material, and the discharge from this hopper is controlled by a measuringvalve 22, of familiar form, by which a measured quantity of material may be discharged into the mold. After the material has been so discharged the next movement of the bed carries the mold to the right, beneath a scraper in the form of a vertical plate 23. This scraper removes surplus material from the mold, leaving the mold filled up to, or slightly above, the level of the upper surface of the cross-bars and sidebars. This scraper is vertically adjustable by means of hand-wheels 24 to regulate the amount of material left in the mold.

After leaving the hopper the mold passes beneath a pressing-roller 25. This roller is journaled above the bed, and its bearings are pressed downward by springs 26 so as to press the vroller against the upper surface of the material in the mold. The roller acts to compress and smooth the material, so that the mold is completely filled, and it also reduces the board to exactly the required thickness, since the side-bars 12 are engaged by the ends of the roller and act as stops to limit its downward movement. Durin the operation of this roller the bed is lirm y supported by a smooth metal plate 27 fixed to the frame of the machine in position to engage and support the lower surface of the bed.y

Where the plaster-board is to be used on the outside of a building it is usually protected with an outside coating of plaster applied to the surface of the board after the board has been nailed in place. To insure the firm adhesion of this coating it is necessary to roughen Vthe surface of the board, and for this purpose the machine is.

provided with a roller 28 having a corrugated, v or otherwise roughened, surface adapted to impress the surface of the board as the latter passes under theroller. The roughening-roller is journaled with provision for vertical movement, its bearings being pressed downward 'by springs 29, and as itis not always necessary to use this roller means are provided for raising it out of operative position when necessary. To this. end the bearing-blocks are provided with screw-threaded stems 30 projecting upwardly and engaging threaded handwheels 31 which may be rotated to raise the bearings and the roller out of operative position.

After passing to the right beneath the rollers, the completed boards must be undisturbed for a sufficient interval of time to permit the plaster to set.V For this reason the machine may be extended indefinitely to the right so as to permit a sucession of boards to remain in the molds until the drum 6 is reached.

The machine is not illustrated in its full length in the drawings, but is shown as broken away at the right of the rougheningroller.

The boards, after they have set, are discharged from the molds upon asupport or table 32, which ,may be a portion of a horizontally-moving conveyer-belt by which the boards are carried away to a convenient point of discharge or storage. As the bed curves around the drum 6 the board, which has become set and stiff, does not followr The bars are then returned by the opera-I tor to the other end of the machine, to be placed in position again upon the bed, the same side-bars being thus used over and' over, although not permanently attached to the bed.

The bed is provided with studs or abutments by which wire reinforcements may be located and fixed in proper position in the molds, to be embodied in the plastic material. As shown particularly in Fig. 3, these studs 14: are riveted to the bed, and are provided with shoulders. In Figs. 1 and 3 reinforcing wires'l are shown as mounted upon these studs, these reinforcements being of a form disclosed and claimed in a copending application filedby me of even date Y herewith. The wires are provided with loops or eyes which engage the studs 14 and rest upon the shoulders, being thus iirmly held in proper position as to their distance from the edges of the boards and also in' proper vertical position to be embedded in the plastic material. Vire-netting may also be employed in the usual manner to reinforce the bodies of the boards, such netting being merely laid in the molds, as shown in Fig. 1. The side-bars 12 and the reinforcing wires are placed in position upon the bed by an operator standing at the left-hand end of the machine, and this same operator controls the movements of the bed by means of the treadle 19 so as to permit the bed to move into a fresh posit-ion, after each mold has been set up, to properly receive the plastic material. The same operator may maipulate the measuring-valve 22, or this valve may be operated automatically in any suitable manner. v

My invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbefore described, as it is illustrated in a more or less diagrammatic manner, but may be embodied in various forms Within the nature of the invention as it is defined inthe following claims.

I claim 1. A machine for making plaster-board comprising a flexible, endless bed adapted to constitute the bottoms of a succession of molds, rigid side-bars removably secured to and carried by the lateral edges of the bed to constitute side-Walls for said molds, drums over which the bed is stretched, means for moving the bed about said drums, and means for removing the side bars automatically from the bed as it passes over one of the drums.

2. A machine for making plaster-board comprising a flexible, endless bed adapted to constiutute the bottom of a succession of molds, cross-bars normally lixed to the bed to constitute the end-Walls of the molds,

lrigid side-bars mounted upon the lateral edges of the bed to constitute the side-Walls of the molds, the side bars being separable from the bed by movement in a plane normal thereto, drums over Which the bed is stretched, means for moving one of the Gcpies of this patent may be obtained for upper drums intermittentlyL to advance the bed, means for discharging plastic material into the molds, and a support adjacent one of the drums and substantially on a level with the surface of the bed so as to receive from the bed the molded boards and the side-bars as the bed passes around said drum.

3. A machine for making plaster-board comprising an endless belt of flexible material adapted to constitute the bottom of a succession of molds, cross-bars normally iixed to the bed to constitute the end-Walls of the molds, drums over which the bed is stretched, means for moving the bed and the drums intermittently, and rigid side-bars constituting the sidesof the mold, the sidebars and the bed having cooperating abutmentsand recesses whereby the side-bars are temporarily secured in place on the bed but are permitted to separate from the bed, with the iinished plaster-board, when the bed reaches one of said drums.

DE LANCEY A. CAMERON.

Witnesses:

FARNUM F. DoRsEY, D. GURNEE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

